LACK OF STAR POWER SEEN AS MAJOR DETRIMENT TO CART AND IRL

One of Indy-car racing's largest problems is a
"noticeable lack of identifiable heroes," according to Robin
Miller of the INDIANAPOLIS STAR-NEWS. It's a "malady that
plagues" the IRL and, "to some extent," CART, as they
"battle NASCAR for television ratings, media coverage,
endorsements and fans." Miller writes that "long before the
IRL/CART war of 1996, Indy-car racing had suffered a massive
star outage," and that the "only recognizable names to most
of the non-racing world are" Michael Andretti, Al Unser,
Jr., Bobby Rahal, Arie Luyendyk and Tony Stewart. He
blames the "old regime at the United States Auto Club and
CART's lack of awareness -- plus NASCAR's marketing savvy
for its drivers." Miller: "The on-track competition in CART
and the IRL has been better than NASCAR the past two years,
but the split and poor TV ratings haven't helped cultivate
many new national names" (INDIANAPOLIS STAR-NEWS, 5/15). In
Chicago, Skip Myslenski writes from the Indy 500 time trials
that the IRL "doesn't have marquee names to match those in
CART." He adds that when IRL Founder Tony George split with
CART he "drained glamor from this race. That's why
excitement is down, anticipation is minimal and scalpers are
left holding fistsful of tickets" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 5/15).
THE COST OF DOING BUSINESS: In Indianapolis, Robin
Miller also examines the costs of fielding race teams for
the IRL and CART, and writes that while Tony George's
pursuit for affordability and cost-conscious rule can make
it cheaper to run an IRL team, for the "front-runners ...
the price of speed can be almost as expensive as it is for
CART." The cost for one "ready to race car" for the IRL
goes between $375,000 to $425,000. For CART, the cost can
hit $600,000 "before the engine goes in" (STAR-NEWS, 5/15).